Neuroscience

Those of us who work within the OHSU Brain Institute are honored to have Dr. Marcus Raichle visit us May 13 to present an evening seminar in the Brain Awareness Lecture Series, entitled “How Do We Peer Deeply into the Brain.” Raichle has been at the forefront in the development and application of advanced brain imaging techniques to advance neuroscience for four decades. He is a pioneer in the use of innovative positron emission tomography, or … Read More

Physicians and researchers have some pretty amazing ways of peering inside the human brain. And some of those methods — and what they might show us — have been in the news a lot lately. A couple of neurosurgeons at Boston University, who have studied former NFL football players and others who have received repeated hits to the head, say that the brain of alleged Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev should be studied in a special … Read More

Many neuroscientists will tell you that nerve cells in the brain (called neurons) are the most important part of the nervous system. They are, after all, the primary cells of the nervous system, responsible for conducting electrical currents to encode and process our senses, thoughts, memories and emotions. But there is a growing contingent of neuroscientists who study other brain cells called glia, named for the Greek word for glue. For much of the last … Read More

As Valentine’s Day nears, and we think about love and attraction, it’s tempting to think it’s all about longing stares and fluttering hearts and fate. But beneath all of that, it’s really about … dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin and vasopressin. Because when we talk about “chemistry” between two people, we are also talking a lot about “brain chemistry.” A couple of years ago, I was part of a special multimedia presentation, with Grammy nominated vocalist … Read More

The recent shootings at the Clackamas Town Center mall and then at the elementary school in Newtown, Conn., made me think about emotional distress, and the ways in which it mirrors physical pain. When we talk about emotional suffering, it is almost impossible to avoid pain-related words. We say: “She hurt my feelings.” Or: “He broke her heart.” This is not just an idiosyncrasy of the English language; a similar pattern has been documented in … Read More

The OHSU Brain Institute has been a national leader in brain and neurology research for years. And that leadership role has been confirmed once again by a new analysis of federal research funding to U.S. medical schools for 2012. The Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, a non-profit group based in North Carolina, ranked OHSU fifth in the nation in total research grants in the neurosciences awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2012. OHSU … Read More

The depiction of Judgment Day on the façade of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris shows an angel weighing the good and evil of souls to determine where they should go. Hanging on one side are devils tilting the scale in the wrong direction. In making decisions about treating neurologic illnesses, physicians and their patients weigh risks and benefits of any treatment. For us, the devil is in the details of those risks and … Read More

Hazy memories are a common post-party scenario on New Year’s Day, where the night before the crowd was alive with noise makers, silly hats and, for some, many different types of alcoholic beverages. Indeed, New Year’s Eve parties are nearly synonymous with alcohol consumption. And while many partygoers recognize that they will be drinking more than their normal amount of alcohol and make plans to get to and from a party safely, there also is … Read More